Sweet Shadows (29 page)

When I turn back around, Nick is watching me. There’s a red spot on his forehead that I’m sure is going to turn into a nasty bruise. Good. It’ll go with the one darkening on his temple.

“Tell me,” I say, crossing my arms and leaning back against the door. “Tell me everything.”

He nods, his dark-blue eyes serious.

“You remember I told you about the factions,” he begins, “about the two groups waging a war for control of the door? For control of the Key Generation?” I just stare at him. Of course I remember. “Well, there is a third faction. A group that wants neither of those things.”

“Sthenno told us about them,” I say. “Before your friends kidnapped her.”

“They aren’t my friends,” he says, snarling. “That third side, the one that wants a return to balance. That’s the side I’m on. We want the door opened and the guardians in place.” He takes a deep breath and sighs. “We want the world back as it was meant to be.”

“Who?” I demand. “Besides you and the Gorgons, who’s on that side?”

He shakes his head. “I can’t identify everyone involved. I honestly don’t know. I’ve been undercover for a long time.”

“Wrong answer.” I start for him.

“But,” he says, giving me a pointed look, “I can tell you what I know.”

I return his pointed look.

“Euryale and Sthenno are the leaders.”

“Welcome to yesterday’s news,” I say. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“There are at least three Olympians, maybe four, on your side.” He shakes his head. “On
our
side.”

“Name them.”

“I—” He starts to refuse but then changes tacks. “Hermes is the only one I know for certain. I think Demeter is another one. Maybe Aphrodite, but the gods are so good at falsities and double-crosses, I can’t be sure.”

“Sounds like someone I know,” I mutter.

He ignores that. “Only the Gorgons know for certain.”

“Well we can’t ask them now, can we?”

It makes sense, though. With opposing sides wanting me and my sisters dead—either before or after we break the seal—Ursula and Sthenno knew we would need real power at our backs. That’s reassuring, at least. Especially after what I saw in the abyss, the numbers on the monster side.

“So they sent you?” I ask. “The Gorgons asked you to go undercover in the monster world?”

“Not directly, no,” he says. His eyes shutter. “I received my orders from Hermes, and I am acting on their behalf.”

“What was your mission, exactly?”

“To infiltrate the monster faction. To become a trusted member of their organization, to learn sensitive information about the Nychtian Army I could then relay to my contact.”

“And how does befriending me get you that information?”

“It doesn’t.” His head droops a little. “I was too good at my job. The monster faction asked me to go undercover as well. After Euryale was taken, they sent me up here to keep tabs on you.”

“You knew?” I push away from the door, intent on shoving his face back into the floor. “All this time you knew they had Ursula, and you didn’t tell me?”

My hands are on his shoulder, ready to drag him to the ground, but the pained look in his eyes stops me.

“It’s … complicated. There is so much riding on my success. How could I tell you without blowing my cover?” He shakes his head. “I wanted to tell you, to reassure you or help you or even fight by your side. I believe in your destiny,” he says, “more than anything else. As much pressure as you feel to live up to your legacy, I feel just as much to make sure you can. I couldn’t risk losing what advantage I’d gained.”

I don’t want to believe him, but I can’t ignore the sincerity in his voice. “What’s changed?” He shakes his head. “Why are you telling me now?” I ask. “Aren’t you still afraid?”

“It’s too late.”

“What do you mean?”

“They discovered my true allegiance,” he says. “My cover is blown. If you had burst into the Den a few seconds later than you did, I’d be dead.”

I run through the scene in my mind. It all happened so quickly. I slow it down and try to play through the moments.

I see Nick, sitting on the chair facing the desk, drinking iced tea. The boss leaning back in his chair. He’s holding something in his lap. I didn’t pay attention at the time—I was a little too busy trying to figure a way out of the situation—but now I see it clearly.

He had his flipper curled around a nasty-looking dagger.

He could have been about to slice Nick’s throat. Or he could just as easily have been showing off his favorite blade.

“How can I believe you?” I ask. “You’ve been lying to me from the start. How can I trust you?”

Again.

That bothers me more than anything else. I let my guard down, let him in, let him closer to me and my sisters. How can I trust my own judgment again?

And, maybe the most important question, why do I want to?

“I’ll earn it back, Gretchen,” he says. “I’ll earn your trust back.”

“How?”

“In whatever way I can.”

I study his handsome face. His short, wavy blond hair. The steady set of his jaw. The unwavering look in his midnight-blue eyes.

I want to believe him.

But I’ve been burned before. And not just by Nick. I always wanted to believe Phil when he swore he’d never drink again. Every time. Year after year. Twelve of them. Twelve long years of taking his anger out on me and Barb. Twelve years of convincing myself it would get better. It never did.

How can I trust this boy who has, admittedly, lied to me from start to finish? Even if he has a good reason for the deception, it’s still a betrayal. It was still lies.

“I—”

“I get it,” he says, stopping me before I voice my doubts. “I’ll work for it. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

I nod. I’m still angry and confused, but I appreciate that he’s giving me time.

“And the first thing I can do,” he says, “is help you get the Gorgons back.”

H
i girls, I—What happened?”

When I return to Greer’s basement, Nick is conscious but still tied to the chair, and Gretchen and Greer are facing off. They both have their arms crossed over their chests and are standing about ten feet apart with matching angry looks on their identical faces.

“I have been planning this for
months
,” Greer says.

“Who cares?” Gretchen retorts. “It’s a stupid tea.”

“It is
not
stupid. It’s a tradition.”

“And this is your destiny.”

“Destiny has waited this long,” Greer sneers. “It can wait one more day.”

Gretchen growls and lunges for her. I dash forward, putting myself between my sisters. Putting myself in harm’s way, if the stormy look on Gretchen’s face is any clue, but better I get a little hurt than Greer ends up strangled on the floor.

I’ve spent the last four hours straight staring at Greer’s laptop—getting nowhere on a current address for our biological mother—so my vision is swimming a little. And my patience is a little thin.

“What’s going on?” I shout.

Gretchen looks at me like she’s just noticing that I’m here.

“What’s going on?” she echoes. “I’ll tell you what’s going on. The Ice Queen is freezing full force.”

I roll my eyes—mentally, so I don’t set Gretchen off on me. She and Greer have had personality conflicts from day one, so this isn’t really surprising.

“Yeah, well, I’d rather be an Ice Queen than a thug any day,” Greer snaps back.

“What’s. Going. On?” I say, louder and more specifically.

With my sisters fuming at each other over my shoulder, I look at Nick.

He shrugs. “Gretchen wants to go after the Gorgons. Greer wants to go to tea.”

“Go after the Gorgons?” I ask. “Really? We know where they are? We know how to rescue them?”

“Yes,” Gretchen snarls. “But apparently we have to wait until after
tea
.”

“I told you I have responsibilities,” Greer says, her voice cracking, full of uncharacteristic emotion. “I cannot just abandon them.”

No wonder Gretchen is frustrated. If she’s learned how to get Euryale back, she’s eager to do that as soon as possible. I’m eager too. I don’t have the close relationship with Sthenno that Gretchen has with Euryale, but I want to rescue her.

“Greer,” I say, “I think this is a little more important than—”

The look in Greer’s silver eyes stops me cold. I’ve never seen this look on her face. I never thought I would. She looks … desperate.

It’s like the image she works so hard to present to the world is shattered.

“Please,” she says. “I need this.”

“No,” Gretchen barks. “It’s ridiculous.”

“Gretchen,” I say, feeling torn between my sisters.

Before I can say more, Greer interrupts.

“I promise,” she says. “Give me this one day, this one event—” She squeezes her eyes shut like she’s trying to hold back tears. “Then I will commit myself without reservation. I just—” She pauses again and opens her eyes. “I need this one last piece of my normal life. Please.”

Behind me, I sense Gretchen softening.

As much as we want to go after the Gorgons right now, when Greer agreed to join us, to embrace her destiny and ours, we promised to try to work around her regular life when we could. She’s only asking for a day. Hopefully that won’t make a huge difference to the rescue, and it will keep Greer in the right mind-set. Going in with her angry and resentful can’t be a good thing.

“We can wait a day,” I say to Gretchen. “Can’t we?”

Behind me, Gretchen grumbles. She may not like the situation, but she understands.

“Fine,” she snaps, covering her sympathy with attitude. “But as soon as your tea party is over, we go in. Agreed?”

Greer nods. “Agreed.”

She reaches out her hand to Gretchen, who reluctantly takes it. I sigh with relief. I’m not a big fan of conflict in the first place, but between my sisters … Well, we’ve already got enough conflict in our lives—we don’t need any extra between us.

“Wonderful,” Greer says, with a bit of her false cheerfulness returned. “You are welcome to stay here tonight. I’ll be gone quite early to go set up. The tea should be over by four. I’ll be back by five at the latest.”

Gretchen grumbles again, but nods.

“Great,” I say. “I need to get home soon. Curfew. But I’ll be back here tomorrow afternoon.”

Greer says good night and leaves us in an awkward silence.

“So,” I say, trying to break the ice, “we’re going to rescue Sthenno and Euryale tomorrow? That’s great.”

“Yeah, it’s peachy keen,” Gretchen snaps. “I need some fresh air. Can you stay with him?”

She jerks her head at Nick.

“Sure, but—”

“I’ll be back in twenty minutes,” she says. “I need to clear my head.”

“Oh. Okay.”

If she’s fast I won’t miss curfew.

Then, just as quickly as Greer before her, Gretchen storms out. I wonder if they realize how much they have in common. Strength. Confidence. Stubbornness. The ability to make a dramatic exit.

“Wait, huntress miss, wait.” The little monkey creature pops up from behind the couch and rushes out after her. “Wait!”

I shake my head. When we met, Gretchen wouldn’t have let even the most innocuous monster stay in this world any longer than it took to connect fangs with flesh. Of course, when we met, she wouldn’t have jumped into the abyss after a boy either. A lot has changed in a very short time.

I expected to find Nick bloodied and battered when I came back down, but other than a darkening spot above his eye, he looks pretty much whole. Which is another mystery.

“You’re a great mediator,” he says. “That could have turned into a nasty fight.”

I shrug. “We have bigger things to fight than each other.”

“You can’t always make everyone happy, you know?” He sounds way too insightful. “That’s not always possible.”

“You sound like you know something about that.”

Now it’s his turn to shrug. “When you have mixed loyalties,” he begins, and then seems to realize how bad that sounds. “When you care about the cause
and
the person, then things get … complicated.”

“I can imagine.”

Ring-ring-ring!
My phone sings out from my bag.

“That’ll be my mom,” I say with a small smile, grabbing my bag from the floor next to the couch. “Can you be quiet for a minute?”

He looks around, like
What have I got to talk about?

I pull out my phone and punch the answer button. “Hi, Mom.”

“I thought you were coming home early tonight,” she says in a slightly irritated tone.

“No, I told you I was going to study at a friend’s house.” At least, I
think
I told her that. “I swear I did.”